Author's Notes: Sorry it has taken me so long to upload this! It's been written ages but I just haven't had time to divide it up into chapters and get it up online. Netx chapter should be much quicker!

The song they dance to is "She's Always A Woman To Me" by Billy Joel.

Chapter 3: Dancing

By the time another fortnight had passed, including his precious weekend with Scorpius at home, Draco had decided that he'd got over the trauma enough to venture out again the following weekend. Blaise was insisting they went to the opening of a new bar, and Draco was trying desperately not to admit to himself that one of the reasons he was going was that it was just down the road from where he'd met Ria and therefore it was just possible she might turn up.

He was not disappointed. He was listening to Blaise espouse on the virtues of various women in the room when he spotted the flash of auburn hair by the bar that he knew could belong to no one else and he was indulging in tracking her around the room, watching her lips curve into a smile as she spoke with her friends when Blaise interrupted by waving a hand in front of his eyes.

"Are you listening?"

It was so blatantly obvious that he hadn't been that Draco didn't even deign to reply; he just let his eyes wander back across the room, forcing Blaise to turn his head to see who he was watching.

"You've been with her before."

Actually Draco hadn't realised Blaise had been taking that much notice on previous occasions and that was enough to get him to turn and look at the other man with a raised eyebrow.

"I saw you with her in that other bar about a month back. Not thinking of breaking our little rule are you?"

Merlin, had it really been a month? That probably explained why his body was reacting quite so violently to her presence. Already his palms were sweatier than he was really comfortable with and he was pretty sure his cheeks had flushed.

"That was a month ago," he said defensively, knowing he would have to say something, "And she was very good."

Blaise shook his head. Draco could see that his gaze was still on Ria, but Draco couldn't bring himself to look just yet. He was well aware that Blaise would think he was doing him a 'favour' if he dragged him away now and Draco really needed to talk him out of that action.

"Oh well, looks like I don't need to worry anyway," Blaise said, sliding his eyes back towards Draco, "Someone else got there first."

Draco whipped his head around so fast his muscles protested. There was a man talking to Ria, not just talking either, but smiling charmingly and touching her arm and leaning in far too close for Draco's liking. He spluttered indignantly, completely ignored Blaise's knowing look and slammed his drink down on the table.

Threading his way through the crowded room to where Ria was standing seemed to take forever and Draco suspected he'd been rude to more than one person in shouldering them out the way, but he didn't particularly care. By the time he reached Ria he was pleased to see she was leaning away from the man and that his hand was no longer on her arm. She was shaking her head as well. Apparently she was no keener on the idea of the man touching her than Draco was.

Smirking at that though he stepped up besides her and placed a hand on her shoulder. There was a split second where she seemed surprised and then her lips curved into a smile. "Draco, my favourite person," she purred, sending an involuntary shudder down his spine because she might just be using him to drive away the other man, but damn it she really sounded like she actually meant it.

"Hello, Ria." It was all he had right now, but it didn't much matter because Ria's arm was snaking around his waist and she was tilting her face towards his, and Draco, who could think of no good reason to deny her what she clearly wanted, leaned down and pressed his lips to hers.

The kiss surged fire through his veins and he tangled his fingers in her soft hair, pulling her closer with his other arm and losing himself entirely in the moment. Had it really been over a month since he'd indulged in this? It felt like just yesterday and yet like forever at the same time. She was so familiar and yet so new. Every flick of her tongue and touch of her hand burnt like flame and made him want more of her everything.

Only when she pulled away did he finally try to get his thoughts in order, aware that he was blinking down at her rather blankly.

"I think we should leave," she murmured, biting her lip in what Draco considered an unnecessarily provocative way. Unnecessary at least in the sense that it was making certain parts of his anatomy twitch uncomfortably and he was going to find it very difficult to walk in a minute.

All the same he completely agreed. There was a taxi ride that consisted mostly of kissing and a ride in a lift that involved most of Draco's shirt coming undone and then they were through the door of his apartment and the rest of their clothes came off and against the door seemed a perfectly reasonable place to indulge their passion,

They made it to the bed eventually and at some point they must have gone to sleep because Draco awoke the next morning with Ria crawling over him and grinning in a way that suggested she wasn't planning on leaving any time soon. For once Draco didn't care. He never had sex with women the morning after, but then he never had sex with the same woman more than once so it was a bit late to be worrying about the rules now.

There was a lot to be said for morning sex Draco reflected afterwards, and there was a lot to be said for a vision of auburn haired beauty handing him a cup of tea whilst inexplicably wearing his shirt rather than her own clothes as she sat herself down cross-legged on the bed.

"You didn't decorate this place did you?" It was an odd comment. One that made Draco blink and sit himself up a little more stiffly. Ria's eyes were wandering over the bed thoughtfully. It was, as she had predicted the first time he'd slept with her, a four-poster bed, but it was modern: black wood frame with a white gossamer canopy and hangings – no colour anywhere in sight. In fact the entire flat was like that, all monochrome furnishings and sharp lines and shiny metals. Draco found it calming and functional, if a little cold, and hadn't bothered to change it once he'd started renting it. What would be the point? He didn't live here and there was no accounting for muggle tastes.

"It came furnished," he said in the end after he'd decided the information was in no way suspicious. If they'd been renting it out furnished it must be fairly normal and besides she already knew he didn't live here all the time. It could hardly get any worse.

"I didn't think this would be to your taste." Ria seemed to have a habit of examining him over the rim of cups. The thought occurred that perhaps she was doing it to hide a smile.

"What do you think my taste is?" He couldn't resist the chance to ask, the thought of finding out how she saw him was too tempting to pass over.

"Oh I don't know," she waved a hand airily, and yes, she was definitely using that cup to hide a smile because it had reached her eyes now. "Something more old fashioned. Dark wood maybe, and I think you probably like more colour – maybe greens and blues."

Draco could think of some other colours he liked right now, like soft amber flecked with gold, and rich auburn that shone in the morning sunlight. For a moment he was too distracted to realise that she had described the Manor's décor pretty accurately. He did like dark green and deep hues of blue, and of course the furniture was mostly dark wood since it was old and certainly old fashioned. She was grinning at him mischievously now, as if she'd uncovered some deep, dark secret of his, or possibly it was just because he was gaping at her a little stupidly. He snapped his mouth shut and tried to frown.

"What's wrong with the décor here?"

Ria looked surprised. "Nothing's wrong with it. It's just not very you."

"I don't know why you think you know so much about me." Did that sound petulant? He hadn't meant it to, but then it was slightly annoying that she seemed to think she knew him when he could honestly say he didn't know much about her at all. Certainly he couldn't read her the way she seemed to read him.

"Maybe I do. Maybe I don't." There was that mysterious smile again before she rose gracefully to her feet and placed her cup on the bedside table. "I'm going to use your shower again before I go if you don't mind."

He didn't mind, but Ria was still wearing his shirt and the deep green brought out her colouring in a way Draco just couldn't resist. He reached out and slid his hand around her waist. "Come here." There was no resistance as he tugged her backwards and into his lap where he immediately captured her lips in a soft kiss. There was nowhere to be just yet and Draco thought he might as well indulge, just in case he didn't get to see her again for another month.

There was the inevitable lecture from Blaise about the fact that he'd left with Ria again. The only saving grace was that as far as Blaise was concerned it was only the second time he had done so. Draco really didn't feel like correcting him so he nodded his head in all the right places and said he wasn't planning on doing it again when in his heart of hearts he knew that if he saw her again he probably would.

He spent a long week thinking about her more than he should and the Saturday after searching surreptitiously for her, glad that Blaise had wanted to return to the same place for once. It was late when he finally spotted her, just stepping in the door with her friends and the only advantage to that was the lateness of the hour meant Blaise was already well and truly occupied with his woman to choice for the evening. Draco objected to public displays of affection on the grounds that it was uncivilised, but Blaise had no such compunction and for once Draco was relieved, rather than appalled, to see him with his tongue down some muggle's throat.

It meant that he was able to sidle up to Ria without Blaise realising that Draco was breaking his rule again and the fact that Ria immediately tilted her face up to him in that alluring way which made him completely forget his rule and kiss her as if he would drown without her really didn't seem to be a problem. It was so easy to slip away with her to a taxi and taking her back to his apartment and falling into bed with her felt so right and so wonderful that Draco's head was spinning and his body was tingling and he didn't even need to think about this because it was as natural as breathing.

He lay afterwards listening to her breathing even out as she fell asleep against his chest and wondered what on earth he was doing. This was the fourth time now, and apart from a few exchanges they'd never actually spoken. They met by chance and they slept together and then they parted not knowing if they'd see each other again. It was ludicrous and dangerous. What was he thinking? What was she thinking for that matter?

Draco vaguely entertained the thought that she was trying to lure him into a relationship, but then he dismissed the notion simply because she'd never given him any indication that she wanted anything of the sort. She hadn't even asked for his number as some muggle women did. She seemed happy just to take whatever he would give and then disappear from his life. If they never met again, would she even care?

He sighed and rolled a little in the bed trying to get more comfortable. Ria shifted against his shoulder and murmured sleepily.

Did she think about him in between their encounters? He certainly thought about her. It was getting to the point now where Scorpius was starting to notice he was distracted half the time, something which Draco was not happy about because his son was more important to him than anything in the world. It was unfortunate that his brain seemed to have temporarily forgotten how to concentrate on anything except an image of auburn-haired perfection that smiled alluringly and pulled him away from reality into fantasies that could never be.

She was a muggle. He couldn't date a muggle.

Another sigh. He shifted again, rolling so he could gaze down at Ria's face, softened by sleep, long eyelashes fluttering delicately against pale cheeks.

"Go to sleep, Draco."

Maybe she wasn't asleep after all. A hand came up and smoothed at his hair before winding around his waist to pull him closer. He let her, gathering her to his chest to form a cocoon of their shared body heat. Maybe he would never see her again after tonight, but he might as well enjoy her whilst he had her.

He fell asleep and dreamt of a fantasy that could never be.

Morning came too quickly and Draco pushed aside melancholy thoughts from last night in favour of concentrating on the here and now. Here contained Ria and now she was kissing along his collarbone and clearly only had one thing on her mind. Draco surrendered himself to the moment and let Ria set his body alight with an ecstasy only she seemed to be able to induce.

Afterwards he got up once the haze of pleasure had cleared from his mind and went to make her some tea. It seemed the least he could do.

It was whilst he was waiting for the kettle to boil that the sound of music came from the living area. He poked his head through the door and saw that Ria had once again decided to don his shirt rather than her own clothes. Vaguely he wondered whether she did it because she knew how good his shirts looked on her, and then decided that she definitely did because her hips were swaying confidently to the beat of the music and a moment later she had lifted her hands above her head and was moving her whole body.

Her back was to him and the song had one of those slow bass-heavy beats that Draco always thought only women could possibility look good dancing to. Any man he'd ever seen dancing to a song like this always looked vaguely uncomfortable, as if he knew that there was no way to compete with the sheer sex appeal women like Ria could give off when they did this. Although she was looking Draco had a feeling she knew she was being watched. A suspicion that was confirmed a moment later when she glanced over her shoulder and threw him a grin of such wicked depravity that he was forced to make a dignified retreat back into the kitchen just to stop himself from running across the room and ravishing her against the nearest wall. It was a source of great embarrassment to him to realise that his hands were shaking as he made the tea.

By the time he was done the song had finished and he felt it safe to peer back through the door, clutching his own cup to his chest as if it might somehow shield him from any further displays of dancing that might be on offer. Ria was fiddling with one of the strange muggle machines that the flat contained, and it was obviously where the music was coming from because a moment later another song started. This one was gentler. Draco had heard it before, in the sort of sophisticated wine bars he and Blaise frequented quite often, where the music was softer and more sensuous and sometimes live.

She can kill with a smile, she can wound with her eyes
She can ruin your faith with her casual lies.

This time Ria's smile was a lot softer too and she opened her arms and began to move around the room as if waltzing with some invisible partner. Draco had to admit she was as graceful and as elegant as he could have hoped, and from the few seconds he managed to spend focusing on her feet, rather than the curving lines of her body or the golden light in her eyes, it seemed she did know how to dance.

And she only reveals what she wants you to see
She hides like a child, but she's always a woman to me.

She was looking at him now, a curious glint in her eyes. One hand came up and she beckoned him over, inviting him to join the dance. A voice inside told him he shouldn't, but his body had reacted without waiting to hear what his brain had to say and he'd placed his cup down on a table and moved across the room before he realised it probably wasn't a good idea to dance with a woman he was just supposed to be having sex with.

It was obviously too late though now. He was already here and Ria was already taking his hand. He might as well go along with it. If it turned out badly there would be time to worry about that later. Right now there was Ria's hand in his and the other one on his shoulder and he was holding her and guiding her around the floor as effortlessly as if they'd been doing this all their lives. She could dance. Very well. Better than some of the supposedly well-trained pure-blood girls Draco had been forced to dance with in his lifetime.

It wasn't particularly romantic. He didn't pull her close and she didn't rest her head on his chest. She didn't even lock her gaze with his. Her eyes darted around the room more often than not, obvious amusement gleaming in their depths. Only the fact that Draco had unshakeable confidence in his own ability to dance prevented him from being offended at that. Whatever it was that was amusing her it wasn't him.

She can't be convicted, she's earned her degree
And the most she will do is throw shadows at you,
But she's always a woman to me.

They moved silently to the music until it ended and then what was romantic in Draco's opinion was the way she suddenly settled her gaze on him, all intense flashing amber eyes filled with fire and conviction, that seemed to read his every thought. His breath caught in his throat and then they were kissing. He wasn't sure who had moved first, or whether they both had, but it was deep and passionate and so meaningful that Draco felt that it reached his very soul, although his soul had no idea what the meaning actually was.

"You're a good person Draco, why don't you know that?"

They'd broken apart. Draco thought he only knew that because his lips were suddenly cold. His eyes were welded shut but they popped open at her words and he knew he must have looked shocked. He made several attempts to speak, but his throat was dry and his tongue seemed to have stuck itself to the roof of his mouth. The look she was giving him, a half frown, as if he'd just confirmed something very important which she found slightly offensive, really wasn't helping matters.

"I…What?" It wasn't a good start. "What are you…?"

He trailed off, because she was smiling now and shaking her head, looking much more like the Ria who'd teased him about the decoration of his apartment last week. "Did you make me some tea?"

He nodded, because he really couldn't think what else to do and she broke away from his embrace, heading for the kitchen. "Of course you did," she called as she went, "Because you're a good person. You see what I mean?"

He didn't, so he shook his head and followed after her to retrieve his own cup. He was quite glad when she followed him back through to the bedroom and curled up against him as he sat on the bed. It was so easy and so comfortable to slip an arm around her and sit there in silence whilst they finished their tea. He had no idea what she was talking about with her little declaration before, but it had shaken him in a way he really couldn't explain and right now he wanted to hold her.

He tried not to let it disturb him that up until now the only person he'd been happy to cuddle was a certain little four year old who had stolen his heart.